About this season
Movie critic Ian Nathan goes in search of the cinematically sublime and explores the ingredients that went into making a classic. With each episode devoted to a single film, their story will be told with detail, affection, looking for the truth behind the myth, and all the trials and triumphs that went into forging the classic.
Episodes (6)
1. Brief Encounter
Aired 8 August 2024 • 46 min
Ian Nathan returns to cast his eye over more cinematic masterpieces, beginning with David Lean's 1945 romantic tragedy starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.
2. Whisky Galore!
Aired 15 August 2024 • 44 min
Ian Nathan examines Alexander Mackendrick's 1949 Ealing comedy, in which Scottish islanders try to salvage 50,000 cases of whisky from a shipwreck.
3. The Producers
Aired 22 August 2024 • 45 min
Ian Nathan examines Mel Brooks' classic 1968 comedy, which stars Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder as two men who set out to make a Broadway flop.
4. I'm All Right, Jack
Aired 29 August 2024 • 45 min
Ian Nathan examines the Boulting brothers' 1959 comedy, a satire on British industrial life starring Ian Carmichael Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough and Margaret Rutherford.
5. Murder on the Orient Express
Aired 5 September 2024 • 45 min
Ian Nathan examines the 1974 adaptation of the Agatha Christie mystery, featuring a stellar cast of train-bound suspects and Albert Finney as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
6. The Deer Hunter
Aired 12 September 2024 • 44 min
Ian Nathan examines Michael Cimino's 1978 Vietnam War drama, which starred Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale and Meryl Streep.